EDEN: OR, A COMPLEAT BODY OF GARDENING, containing plain and familiar directions for raising the several useful products of a garden. compiled and digested from the papers of the late celebrated Mr. Hale, by the authors of the compleat body of husbandry. And comprehending the art of constructing a garden for use and pleasure; the best methods of keeping it in order: and the most perfect accounts of its several products.

Folio 15 1/2 x 10 inches, full period calf, restored. Engraved frontispiece, title, iv, ii, 714, (i). Illustrated with 60 fine engraved plates. Some mispagination to the text but complete with the unusual final leaf being an 'Answer to the Proprietors of the Complete Body of Gardening.' to various objections. The occasional spot and the last plate slightly creased but a GOOD COPY. Intended as a companion to the Compleat Body of Husbandry (London, 1756), this work was designed along very unusual lines for the period- each weekly part includes information on what should be done in the garden during the following week together with descriptions of the plants that should be at their peak at that time. Sir John Hill was industrious and energetic, and his writings show him to have been a man of real ability and genius. He pursued a number of careers: apothecary, practical botanist, author, gardener (he apparently assisted in the laying out of a botanic garden in Kew, and was gardener at Kensington Palace).…